Food articles posted in Nov 2008

Mom & Tina’s Bakery Cafe

Today was a day for shopping for curtain fabrics and curtain rods. After completing my purchases at Fabric Warehouse in Libis, Quezon City, we proceeded to Causeway for a very late lunch. Dimsum mostly, although my daughter Sam ordered a shrimp wonton soup for herself. Disappointed that Causeway didn’t serve egg tarts, we decided to have our dessert elsewhere. At Mom & Tina’s, my husband suggested, which was a short five-minute drive away. We’ve never eaten there before although we’re not totally unfamiliar with the bakery’s products. When friends came over to the house a couple of weeks ago, they brought a tray of Mom & Tina’s profiteroles, we liked it very much and my husband went to Mom & Tina’s a few days later, bought a box of profiteroles and brought it home.

Chicken and mushrooms pasta

My younger daughter, Alex, woke me up on Saturday morning with an announcement that she wanted pasta for lunch. With pesto, she said, and chicken. I said, sure, and figured I might as well go all the way and add mushrooms and a medley of vegetables too. She helped with the cooking, grated the cheese, cut the mushrooms and tomatoes, and did some stirring, then it was on to a great lunch. Too bad the man of the house was out at work and had to miss the spaghetti with chicken, brown button mushrooms, vegetables and pesto.

Kitchen thermometers

Never thought the day would come when I’d get a meat thermometer. I like being able to look at roast beef, pork, leg of lamb or turkey or duck and know if it’s done, undercooked or overcooked. But I’m preparing a stuffed turkey for a New Year’s Eve family reunion and I don’t want to take chances. Food is too expensive these days and a whole turkey going to waste is not how I want to start the New Year. So, yesterday, I bought a meat thermometer, the kind you insert into the thickest part of the meat where it stays for the duration of the cooking.

Mashed potatoes with cheese and sour cream

We’re a potato chip loving family. It’s a weakness, really. While I prefer plain salted potato chips, my younger daughter, Alex, loves all flavors with sour cream — sour cream and onion, sour cream and cheese, sour cream and garlic… And we’re all mashed potatoes addicts too. So, I was thinking… Is it possible to use potato chip flavors to make mashed potatoes? I’ve made a lot of variations with my mashed potatoes, mostly by adding different combinations of herbs and spices. But what about sour cream and cheese flavored mashed potatoes?

Silicone baking cups

The first set I bought are the ones at the back, the four round cupcake cups with feet. My daughter, Sam, discovered them at Living Well (Mall of Asia branch), showed them to me and I just fell in love with them. I have used them several times (see the carrot cupcakes and the self-frosting peanut butter cupcake entries) and found them so easy and convenient to use that when I saw the square and heart-shaped ones several months later, I bought them too.

Mango and cashew nut bars

A simple baking project that even an amateur baker like me cannot possibly mess up. The recipe is a handwritten notation in a Lawyer’s Diary circa 1991 that I converted into a recipe notebook. The diary was issued by the law firm where I was working at the time. Why it became a recipes notebook should give you an idea about how bored I was with law practice. Anyway, that was ages ago. Since most of the recipes in that diary I copied from a notebook of my sister-in-law, Susan, I think I can safely say that I got this from her.

Fettuccine Bolognese

Chunky, meaty Bolognese sauce made with red wine and served with spinach fettucine. There are so many variations of this pasta sauce that originates from Bologna, Italy and Wikipedia says the authentic sauce has very little tomato in it. Other versions do not contain red wine — mine does because red wine does something to tomato-based sauces that makes them incredible robust. Some recipes use more than one kind of ground meat; often, a combination of pork, veal and beef. My recipe substitutes smoked belly bacon for pancetta, the Italian dry cured pork belly that is often referred to as Italian bacon.

(Vietnamese style) Honey ginger chicken

Over two years ago, when I first cooked a chicken dish seasoned with a combination of honey, lemon and ginger, I thought I created something original. In fact, I found it amusing that it was inspired by Halls candy — you know, the honey lemon flavored ones?

Little did I know that honey-ginger dishes are common in Vietnam. There is honey ginger chicken, honey-ginger prawns and honey-ginger pork…

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House On A Hill

Noche Buena

• Rice pudding with custard topping
• Chicken in sour cream
• Corn dogs
• Chicken, pesto and yogurt salad
• Melon and coconut milkshake
• Chili garlic prawns
• In my kitchen: taking it easy
• What to do with holiday leftovers: make a pie, a soup and Oriental fried rice
• Mango cream pie
• Pre-Christmas callos

School lunchbox

• School lunch: fish fillet and buttered vegetables
• Shrimps, ham and asparagus fried rice
• Sukiyaki-cut beef with Kecap Manis
• Chicken, ham and leeks fried rice
• Adobong kangkong
• Sauteed chicken and squash with fresh tarragon
• School lunch: chicken, chayote and spinach
• School lunch: chicken adobo fried rice
• Roast pork and cabbage fried rice
• Back to school again